Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8-16, it's F-Helix Morning, it's our monthly visit with the Red Cross and Michael Tedesco is here. Good morning. Good morning, Ted. We're happy to have you back with us. Of course, Hurricane Francine has been in the news today. It made landfall in the Gulf. The fortunate thing is, this is an event that you can get ready for in advance. So we're going to talk today about preparedness. So talk about how National prepares for an event like this and then how it communicates out to local agencies like yours as to a coordinated response.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, absolutely. When people see the Red Cross, when a major disaster is taking place, they're likely seeing the recovery phase and the relief phases just after an event has occurred. But one of the things that is a strength of the organization is preparedness. So for this storm and many others before it, we'll see hundreds of volunteers pre-positioned in places that we anticipate impact. Tractor trailer loads full of supplies for sheltering and feeding. Same thing, pre-positioned in areas where we can access them very quickly and get things going. So that's kind of what's been happening for the last several days. Hundreds of volunteers have made their way down to Louisiana where the landfall was anticipated. And we'll be on the ground setting up shelters, working with other community agencies and governments to meet the needs of their constituents.
Paul Szmal: When doing this planning, does Red Cross work with any specific meteorology service or is it just the off-the-shell forecast you see on TV?
Michael Tedesco: No, we have – I get forecasts every day for sure our chapters within New York State, any kind of threat we might be anticipating weather-wise. But when a storm is brewing in the Atlantic that looks like it's going to have an impact on the southern states or the eastern states, we receive from the – I'm going to forget what the acronym stands for, we receive official forecasts, not just off-the-shelf forecasts. So we track these very closely and that's the basis for our actions is what's contained in these reports.
Paul Szmal: Does the Red Cross have, especially in a place like the Gulf that's hurricane-prone, I think we might have talked about this once before, do you have pre-designated shelters that you can put into use when they're needed?
Michael Tedesco: We have partnerships with other organizations that can provide the space. We don't own or maintain any shelters in off times, but we have agreements, partner agreements, and we even have some here in the northeast and within our own region where if a disaster strikes a certain area, we know who we can go to who has the right kind of facility to lend itself to that situation.
Paul Szmal: So at the regional level, how do you deploy your assets in terms of volunteers who might go to the site, others who might do things virtually? We've talked about that possibility of late. How do you coordinate your assets in New York for something happening in Louisiana?
Michael Tedesco: Good question. We have a really strong tool called Volunteer Connection that all of our western New York volunteers are registered in and through which we can communicate to them. So we will put out, and we also have a text, an Everbridge text system. So we ask people in advance, again, after tracking all these weather developments to indicate whether they might be available for deployment or if they are unable at this time. So we will know which people or how many people we might have available. And then the message will go out. We have coordinators who reach out to banks of volunteers, and we make flight arrangements, hotel or shelter arrangements, depending on availabilities. So it's a very well-coordinated effort to be able to respond very quickly.
Paul Szmal: Of course, the Red Cross runs on volunteers. It also runs on donations from the public. You can go to redcross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text REDCROSS to 90999. That will make a $10 donation. And we've talked about this. I learned this from somebody in Red Cross about 25 years ago. They talked about why money is best. Because it can be spent where it's needed. It can help boost the local economy. And it takes away the logistics. In other words, if you're trying to get clothing, food, supplies to a place hit by a disaster, that's very difficult to do, whereas money can be spent right there on the scene to get people what they need quickly.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, you've captured that perfectly. And there are other organizations who have more specialized services related to donated goods. We just don't have the infrastructure. And that requires a lot logistically. And our focus is really on getting volunteers to the site, getting supplies to the site as quickly as we can and setting things up as efficiently as we can to make sure we're in a position to take care of people who've been displaced.
Paul Szmal: Talking with Michael Tedesco from the Red Cross. This month is Preparedness Month, so let's talk about what we can all do. Most of us probably don't have any sort of emergency kit or anything. Maybe if you live in Florida or the Gulf or in Tornado Alley, you do. But what are some of the things to think about in our own lives and being ready in case some event like this happens?
Michael Tedesco: Well, you know, it's interesting you say that because we're hearing more and more discussions about, you know, well, our region doesn't really experience some of the devastating storms that other regions do, you know, other than some snowfall. But if you look at this past year, we've had more tornadoes stashed down in New York State than any other point in history. So, you know, there's definitely something going on with weather patterns. So we need to be prepared for even more types of disasters. Still having said that, you know, our winter season, potential snowfall, huge snowfalls, blizzards like we saw in Buffalo a couple of years ago. But we had major flooding just the end of July, early August, following Hurricane Debbie as it moved up the East Coast. It just dumped lots of rains in portions of our southern tier, especially around the Steuben County area. So we had shelter set up then, and we had, you know, 27 homes, I think, were heavily damaged or destroyed. So we had to house folks. So the point is you have to be prepared for a number of different types of disasters. So that's the first step. You know, just be educated. You know, what are the weather patterns? Take notice if they're changing and adapt your planning for that. But the best defense you can have is to be prepared. And we talked about being Red Cross ready. And what that comes down to is three easy steps. It's getting a kit, making a plan, and staying informed. And, you know, happy to drill down into the specifics on each of those.
Paul Szmal: Well, and here's one good one. You know, like you said, you've got shelter locations set, but maybe in your area there's not a shelter set up quickly or it fills up or something. So having a plan on a place to go in case you have to leave, friend or relative or wherever it is, that's a good step to know where you're going to go if you have to evacuate your home.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, know where you're going to go and know how you're going to get there. Are you going to be able to drive? You know, we had situations in Steuben County with flash flooding where driving was just not possible. So that certainly presents some extraordinary challenges. But those are just some of the things we have to think about, unfortunately, when disaster strikes.
Paul Szmal: Something that's new over the last several years is we have all these electronic devices. It's a good idea to not let your phone get down to 5%, keep it charged, make sure you've got chargers, cables for that electronic communication gear and for any medical gear, CPAP machine, anything like that. Have a plan for it to be able to be powered.
Michael Tedesco: Absolutely. It's interesting. I heard a bit on the radio yesterday from the governor of Louisiana talking to people about how to prepare for what was coming, and that's one of the points that he brought up. Keep your electronic devices charged and, you know, have a plan for dealing with that. We advise people when they make their preparedness kits, keep extra batteries in there. I went out, you know, we tend to lose power a lot where I live, and one of the things I did was invest in one of those portable charging devices for cell phones.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Because when you live in an age of no landlines, you're suddenly cut off from everything if your cell phone loses power. Also, I was going to put in a plug for radio here, but one of those hand-crank radios, because very often in a disaster the cell network might go down and your main way of receiving information could still be good old-fashioned radio.
Michael Tedesco: That's right, and we actually have them available through the Red Cross. If people go to RedCross.org, we have a Red Cross store that carries those radios. And also there's a Red Cross emergency app. Just look for that in your favorite app store. It gives you real-time weather and some preparedness and safety advice. RedCross.org is the place to go. And again, if you want to make a donation for the current hurricane in the Gulf Coast, RedCross.org, 1-800-RedCross, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999. If you write a check, you can put Hurricane Francine in the line so that people will know that that's what it's going for.
Paul Szmal: Michael, thanks for the update as always, and thanks for the work that you and all the volunteers do.
Michael Tedesco: Thanks so much, Ted, and enjoy our good weather that we're projected to have this weekend.
